Only the stars are neutral
Railroad company sheet: a night train carries camouflaged tanks on flatcars under a starry sky, with the headline 'Only the Stars are Neutral' and the line 'The railroads are the backbone of offense'. Wartime military strength is attached to the company (transfer), and the sheet presents the railroads' role as the backbone of offense while showing nothing of other transport (card-stacking).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Union Pacific Railroad, Willmarths
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Corporation
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front, Economy and finance
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Union Pacific Railroad, Willmarths. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1463 (NAID 515127).
Text on the object
Only the Stars are Neutral* *BY SPECIAL PERMISSION OF QUENTIN REYNOLDS UNION PACIFIC "KEEP 'EM ROLLING" THE RAILROADS ARE THE BACKBONE OF OFFENSE [on the flatcar:] UNION PACIFIC [signature:] Willmarths
